Week 3 Post Trip Report: The Human Connection

“Teacher, teacher, you went up there?” One of my English Language Learners asked as we stood outback of my classroom Friday morning.

“Are the weathermen up there all night?” Asked another student.

The questions were endless from my Multicultural Biology students. The looming white mountain we see in our backyard now meant something to these teens. I then described the journey upward in the powerful snowcat piloted by a talented and very patient young woman.

The basic photos taken with my cell phone were enough evidence to showcase the journey. Jokes about Gilligan’s Island and a three hour tour earlier in the morning by one of the volunteer chefs, an accountant from NJ area, resonated with twelfth grade English students from our local towns.

A new respect for the Mount Washington Observatory reports posted online glistened in the eyes of several eighteen year olds as they inquired about how deep the snow was when viewing the photographs of the MWO staff shoveling the snow from the various weather stations along the Auto Road.

“So they really do clean all of them off by hand. It seems so unrealistic to think that guys are out there manually removing ice and snow on the side of Mount Washington for weather data collection. It is so cool. Just think, we look at that mountain all of the time heading to Walmart and stuff and there are really actual people up there working!” A universal grunt of acknowledgement agreed with the Senior’s comment while oohing and ahhing at the photos.

“Hey Mrs. Norkin, did you see where LIzzie Bourne died? Were you like really near where her uncle tried to build a wall of stones?” More and more questions were asked. The reality of how accessible Mount Washington for those working at the Mount Washington Observatory and the park service as well as the Auto Road business was truly planted in the minds of over forty high school students. I had related the story of how our group witnessed four women attempting to ski down the auto road, but evidently over their ability level and it was agreed, Mount Washington has the power to make people feel invincible.

As for the photographs of the observatory itself, the students were somewhat interested in the antique tools used to collect data, but the thought of actually living on top of Mount Washington fascinated them the most.  From an educator’s point of view, the experience wasn’t about the great conversations and camaraderie felt while on the trip, but the after effect of presenting proof that humans ARE on top of Mount Washington, and humans ARE trying to accurately collect data to make real world connections between the weather and the impact of humans on the environment.

In closing, the icing on the cake, was when a student from Germany sent me a note inquiring about any photographs I may have of my trip to the Mount Washington Observatory because her grofater/grandfather has always loved looking online at the weather on top of Mount Washington and had advised her to take pictures of the mountain. Photos from Tuesday February 14, 2017 traveled to Germany and made a grandfather proud to say his granddaughter was enrolled in school near Mount Washington, and that even teachers living in the Valley could travel up to visit the Mount Washington Observatory.  And that folks, is truly the human connection.

-Blog post by Joy Norkin, Fryeburg Academy

In-classroom preparation and materials from Joy:

Introductory Lesson to MWO (pretrip to Weather)

Steps:

1. Showed image from MWO webpage Summit Conditions Page (instrument panel)
2. Compare w/ our weather station in the classroom.

3. Pointed out profile on auto road and visibility.
4. Visibility- used Google Maps to show where Mount Washington is (connected with MWOs presentation). Show how close milage wise known areas are to Mount Washington. How far is 130 miles visibility?

5. Youtube Search for Extreme Videos from Mount Washington.

6. What is easy to read off of both weather instruments- both OLRC and MWOs?

Student Generated List= 615 5508

• Date
• Time
• Current temp
• Current wind speed
• Current wind direction
• Current wind chill
• Current relative humidity
• 24 high temp
• 24 high wind speed
• 24 low temp

Reading activity: The Story of Lizzie Bourne excerpt from Not Without Peril by Nicholas Howe with follow up discussion questions, the '10 essentials' and reflection activity.